Tips & tricks for a great online mentoring experience

09 Mayo 2013por Codrin Paveliuc-olariu

In the past few weeks I had the opportunity to be a mentor to 4 great teams in the Thought for Food (TFF) Challenge (check out my experience HERE). After being a mentee in other online programmes and discussing in several networks on how a good mentoring programme should look like, I can give some inside tips & tricks for a great mentoring experience.The organization that is developing a mentoring programme should take this into consideration:- A mentoring programme should be constructed solely on very clear objectives. Do not create a mentoring programme to “enhance the abilities of mentees” or “help students learn more about a specific field”. It must have a focus (ex. develop a project proposal) within a certain field of expertise (in food security) with precise milestones (for which in the first week a summary must be written and by the third week a draft proposal must be done) and with a clear deadline (to be completed in 2 months) and deliverables (through a submitted written report and a video pitch).- The organization must NOT impose the type of communication or frequency through which the mentoring process would take place (Skype, phone, Google Hangouts, emails, Facebook chats etc.). Depending on the technical capability of both mentors and mentees and their availability, the type and frequency of communications should be left to the discretion of the participants.- The organization should only provide a framework within which the mentoring process will take place without intervening in it. But, if needed, it must be prepared to offer any kind of support necessary (technical, logistics, scientific etc.).The mentor, when engaging in this process, should be aware of the following:- Most times, a mentee has high expectations from the mentor, considering him/her as a leader in that specific field. Under this consideration, the mentee, without realizing, will ask from advice on whether an idea is good or bad. The mentor should refrain itself on providing his/her own ideas on a certain project. His/her role is to provide guidance on improving the mentors process of thinking and developing that idea. If this guidance will lead the mentee to reconsider the idea is part of another discussion.- A mentor is not a scientific advisor or consultant on a project presented by the mentee. Although you are an expert in your field, your role in the mentoring programme is not of providing consultancy in that field, but of providing guidance on a process. This might require you to research new fields, ask for help or tapping into knowledge from fields you previously worked in. You should start the “mentoring experience” by learning as much as possible about the mentee and the idea proposed in order to see what knowledge you have on the subject and what knowledge you need to gain.It is “Ok” to say: “I will answer later to your question after I will research it a little bit better“.The mentee should NOT be a follower:- When talking to the mentor, the mentee should “annoy” him/her as much as possible with questions. Any kind of question is good and welcomed. You should NOT listen and take for granted what the mentor is saying. Question everything, take in every information you receive and use it.- When developing your agenda, if the mentor says “your idea is bad” or “you should change your idea”, you should change your mentor (not kidding). A mentor should encourage the creative process and ALL ideas and NOT impose any ideas. The mentee should be careful also about the information that the mentor provides. If this is contradictory to the information that he/she already has available, the question of validity of sources may arise.- The mentee should also be its own mentor. You should not only follow the advices of your mentor, but also learn from the questions you ask him/her. As you know, “learning by doing” is the best way to do it. That is why mentoring is such a great process. You are able to learn both from a great professional and from yourself. I personally call mentoring “mirroring” because it allows you to see yourself through the mentor`s eyes.One last tip for everyone in an online mentoring programme:Organizations aren`t GOVERNMENTS, mentors aren`t DICTATORS and mentees aren`t THE PEOPLE. They are all in this together. If you want to create a great mentoring experience, you need to make sure that organizers, mentors and mentees become friends, not only participants in a programme.

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Professionals want to share; youth wants learn; that’s why the platform arises. Besides being a platform, EduMala is a visionary, dynamic and innovative idea. So we encourage you to be the part of it. If you would like to know more about our program, or interested to join as mentor (for particular session), please send us an email to mentoring@edumala.com.

We all need experienced mentors for our starts up to be successful. The entrepreneurial mentoring program could not come at a better time and I consider myself extremely lucky to be selected into the program. Specifically, information on business model canvas from my mentor has been very applicable while I was drafting my poultry business model.

My expectations coming to the online mentoring program for young women entrepreneurs is to grow my business to the extent of being recognised internationally. In addition, i want to radically inspire more youths to passionately go into poultry farming as a business.

The online mentoring program for young women entrepreneurs is of great deal to me. This is because as a young entrepreneur who entered into business with no practical experience i need a lot of trainings, coaching and mentoring. The mentoring is the Perfect platform for me to grow and expand and in turn reach more and more people and help them grow and expand as well.

I would encourage my fellow youth to not only think of getting a job after graduating from school, instead they should think differently by creating jobs. Above all I would like to urge institutions and government to help youth who are showing interest in farming by providing with them financial support.

“My expectations from this program is to contribute to raising incomes of the rural woman society and to give them brilliant ideas about further impacts of their activity for developing natural resources through assisting and teaching them to develop their own projects. Under this program I would like to give them opportunity to develop their ability under my leading skills. “

“With a background in political science and international affairs, I believe I have a compelling story to young Ghanaian girls that no matter your background, you can play a significant role in the agribusiness sector.”

I believe that the online mentoring program is one of the best platform for promotion and empowerment of women who want to be self-dependent. Also, being mentored by experts who are already in the field of Agro-Business Promotion will give me support, strength, confidence and knowledge to attain the vision that our company has envisioned for a sustainable Nepal in vegetable crop production

“I am deeply involved in Dairy from the last five years wherein I look after Cow Health and Nutrition part of Dairy Management, which are my key work areas.Dairy Farming has its own challenges and to become an efficient milk producer on a commercial scale, one needs to have very good know how on livestock management, fodders and cattle health issues. “